The second Minsk ceasefire agreement had an inauspicious beginning. But hope remains. Much of frontline has calmed down, and the sides have started to exchanges prisoners. Although the recent agreement may not provide a final solution to the conflict, it has good prospects of freezing it.

If and when Russia becomes friendly toward the West, Ukraine’s strategic importance will fade. Until then, defending Ukraine’s interests—security, stability, prosperity, and democracy—is the best way to defend the West’s own.

Turkey has long supported the terrorist group al-Nusra as a way to pressure the Assad regime. But there is no evidence to suggest that Turkey ever gave support to ISIS, once its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, split from al-Nusra in 2013.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is starting to show some wear and tear. True, it has pulled off some gruesome executions, attracted jihadists from across the world, and still holds swaths of Iraq and Syria. But cracks are appearing in the self-styled Caliphate.

U.S. President Barak Obama has set a difficult goal in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). To achieve it, he will need to bring Iran on board, especially in the Syrian peace talks.

If the past is precedent, Kasasbeh’s death at the hands of ISIS could signal a change—at least temporarily—in Jordanian popular attitudes toward the war and presage a more robust role for the kingdom in military operations.

Although the militant Islamist group Boko Haram has many features of a standard terrorist group, it is more helpful to consider it in another light: as a unique product of Nigeria’s unequal governance.